When my daughter was about two, we were standing at the top of the stairs when she suddenly lifted her arms up towards the sky and launched herself off the top step. She was trying to figure out whether or not she could fly. Fortunately, I caught her before she tumbled, head first, to the ground.
When we are young -- before we “knew better” -- we dared to take a lot of chances. No challenge seems too great, no risk seems too consequential. But then we “learn from our mistakes.” We learn from our losses. We learn from our embarrassments. We learn from our hurt. We learn to be less daring as the years go by.
But if you don’t dare to try, you will never know for sure what you and your life can truly be. You will never discover how you can truly fly, how deeply you can truly love, or how much fun you can truly have.
It seems to me that daring to dream is the biggest dare of all.
If you dare to dream, dare to make the decision that you are going to chase the life you want, dare to take the chance to put your stake in the ground and then -- and then -- if you are willing to remain true to your course, if you are determined to keep moving forward toward that dream then the accomplishment will be oh-so-sweet.
But the journey doesn’t end with simply being daring. Sadly, the cliche is true: dreams only work if you do, and accomplishing anything significant requires you not just to be daring but to also approach it with a boatload of determination. Because the other lesson we learn over the years is that everything of value takes work, a lesson most of our parents told us when we were young but I’m not sure we believed.
And here’s the part that kinda sucks, but I wouldn’t be telling you the whole truth if I didn’t tell you this part, too. You might fail. You might dare to dream, dare to take a chance, dare to take a risk and be determined, and still you might fail. No matter how determined you are, no matter how hard you work, there is no guarantee.
Living a daring life is a skill that can be developed. By choosing to be just a bit more daring, you can teach yourself that the risks are not that great and the dream is not that scary. Approaching challenges with determination is also a skill that can be developed, improved and strengthened. So it is okay to take it slow. It is okay to start with a small dare, it is okay to be just a little bit more determined today than you were yesterday. It is okay to be daring to, bit by bit, become more determined.